World Humanitarian Summit, Istanbul, May 2016

With over 60 million displaced people around the world and emergency responses becoming increasingly complex, a review of the humanitarian system was needed and sought by the various actors involved in humanitarian responses.

The first ever World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) convened in May 2016 in Istanbul to discuss issues and identify solutions to challenges faced by the humanitarian sector. The WHS gathered over 9,000 representatives of member states, humanitarian actors and organisations, United Nations bodies, civil society actors, academics, private sector actors and those affected by humanitarian crises and disasters.

The WHS was initiated by UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in 2012 and is considered as the most inclusive consultative process with contributions from over 23,000 people globally. You can learn more about the consultative process from this report on the WHS website. Online consultations and national and regional consultative meetings exposed a widespread demand to review the way the international community responds to humanitarian crises.

The goals

The three goals of the WHS were:

to re-inspire and reinvigorate a commitment to humanity and to the universality of humanitarian principles

to initiate a set of concrete actions and commitments aimed at enabling countries and communities to better prepare for and respond to crises, and be resilient to shocks

to share best practices that can help save lives around the world, put affected people at the centre of humanitarian action, and alleviate suffering.

Core responsibilities

In the lead-up to the Summit, the UN Secretary-General identified five core responsibilities to address these challenges, and outline actions to reduce suffering and improve the delivery of humanitarian assistance. The five core responsibilities are:

prevent and end conflict

respect rules of war

leave no one behind

catalyse action for gender equality

respond to disasters and climate change.

Look at the Agenda for Humanity on the WHS website to learn more about the core responsibilities.

Outcomes

At seven high-level roundtable meetings, senior representatives of government, civil society and the private sector made a number of policies, legal and operational commitments in support of the core commitments outlined in the Agenda for Humanity.

These commitments focused on a number of priority areas for the future of humanitarian action including:

localisation of humanitarian assistance

reducing the humanitarian development divide

addressing the needs of displaced persons

promoting inclusion of marginalised and vulnerable groups.

The agenda for reform

The agenda for reform is diverse and broad-ranging. Over 1500 commitments were made at the Summit, including agreements for effective and efficient aid financing such as the
Grand Bargain, along with strong commitments to increased localisation as reflected in the Charter for Change, education in emergencies, greater inclusion of people with disabilities, and more investment in prevention and risk mitigation.

Taking action

The main focus in the wake of the Summit is to ensure action is taken. The questions are: how are these commitments and agreements being implemented? What monitoring mechanisms are in place? Who is accountable? What immediate and long-term changes can be expected by the populations affected?

Your task

Select the links below to read more about progress since the 2016 WHS.

Please post your response to the following two questions in the comments section:

According to the November 2017 Synthesis Report ‘No Time to Retreat’ in which areas of the core responsibilities and commitments have positive progress been made?